DUSHANBE -- The head of the Commonwealth of Independent States' security organization says Tajikistan has agreed to help stabilize southern Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
Nikolai Bordyuzha, the secretary-general of the CIS's Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), said after meeting in Dushanbe today with President Emomali Rahmon that the Tajik leader had signed a CSTO agreement providing emergency aid to Kyrgyz law-enforcement agencies.
The issue had been previously discussed at a CSTO Security Council meeting in Moscow on June 14.
Bordyuzha said he had even discussed with Rahmon what kind of weapons and technical and special equipment should be sent to Kyrgyz forces to help restore order in the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad, where at least 291 people were killed and thousands left homeless after several days of ethnic clashes in mid-June.
Bordyuzha noted that he recently visited the conflict area in Kyrgyzstan and is satisfied with the measures being taken by authorities to bring stability there. He added that based on his visit he is "more than sure" that the region's "narco-mafia" had a hand in the deadly ethnic violence.
Bordyuzha also took part in a meeting today of the heads of antidrug agencies in CSTO countries in Dushanbe. The CSTO has expressed concern with the increase in drug trafficking from Afghanistan.
Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russia's antidrug agency, met with Rahmon on July 1 and stated that Tajikistan needs help dealing with the increase in narco-trafficking from Afghanistan.
Ivanov said it is possible that Russian border guards who patrolled the Tajik-Afghan border until July 2005 could return to Tajikistan if "both sides had such an interest."
Meanwhile, Tajik Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Nuriddin Shamsov said Tajikistan is prepared to contribute to the proposed deployment of an OSCE "police task force" to help Kyrgyz security services.
Nikolai Bordyuzha, the secretary-general of the CIS's Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), said after meeting in Dushanbe today with President Emomali Rahmon that the Tajik leader had signed a CSTO agreement providing emergency aid to Kyrgyz law-enforcement agencies.
The issue had been previously discussed at a CSTO Security Council meeting in Moscow on June 14.
Bordyuzha said he had even discussed with Rahmon what kind of weapons and technical and special equipment should be sent to Kyrgyz forces to help restore order in the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad, where at least 291 people were killed and thousands left homeless after several days of ethnic clashes in mid-June.
Bordyuzha noted that he recently visited the conflict area in Kyrgyzstan and is satisfied with the measures being taken by authorities to bring stability there. He added that based on his visit he is "more than sure" that the region's "narco-mafia" had a hand in the deadly ethnic violence.
Bordyuzha also took part in a meeting today of the heads of antidrug agencies in CSTO countries in Dushanbe. The CSTO has expressed concern with the increase in drug trafficking from Afghanistan.
Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russia's antidrug agency, met with Rahmon on July 1 and stated that Tajikistan needs help dealing with the increase in narco-trafficking from Afghanistan.
Ivanov said it is possible that Russian border guards who patrolled the Tajik-Afghan border until July 2005 could return to Tajikistan if "both sides had such an interest."
Meanwhile, Tajik Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Nuriddin Shamsov said Tajikistan is prepared to contribute to the proposed deployment of an OSCE "police task force" to help Kyrgyz security services.